Tokyo stocks rise in morning on bargain-hunting

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 57.52 points, or 0.38 percent, from Friday to 15,221.56. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was up 4.54 points, or 0.36 percent, at 1,259.73.

Buying took the upper hand from the opening bell, benefitting from gains on Wall Street on Friday.

Stocks were supported by bargain-hunting as hopes grew for a technical rebound, said Hiroichi Nishi, assistant general manager of equity research at SMBC Nikko Securities Inc.

"A sense of overheating in the market receded after the key indexes fell for five consecutive days last week," Nishi added.

On the First Section, advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by 1,033 to 606, while 175 finished the morning unchanged.

Communications shares became one of the morning's best performing sectors, with Nippon Telegraph and Telephone rising 125 yen, or 1.9 percent, to 6,675 yen and KDDI climbing 66 yen, or 1.1 percent, to 6,271 yen.

Softbank advanced 116 yen, or 1.6 percent, to 7,596 yen after the Nikkei business daily reported the Japanese communications giant has reached a basic agreement to acquire the U.S. market's fourth largest mobile communications service provider T-Mobile US from its German parent Deutsche Telecom.

Other major gainers included utility, precision machinery and rubber products shares.

In contrast, Cosmos Pharmaceutical declined 150 yen, or 1.4 percent, to 10,910 yen after the drugstore chain operator on Friday projected flat growth for its group net profit in the fiscal year through May 2015, falling short of the market consensus.